Sauteed Baby Eggplants

Ingredients

1 pound baby eggplants (6), trimmed and halved lengthwise

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons soy sauce

2 tablespoons mirin* (Japanese sweet rice wine)

1 1/2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Preparation

Peel a 1-inch-wide strip of skin lengthwise from each eggplant half opposite cut side. Sprinkle eggplants with salt on both sides and let drain on a rack set over a shallow baking pan 20 minutes. Rinse eggplants well, then firmly squeeze out moisture and pat dry with paper towels.

Stir together soy sauce and mirin in a small bowl.

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy nonstick skillet over moderate heat until hot but not smoking, then fry eggplants, peeled sides down, until undersides are browned, 5 to 6 minutes.

Turn over and brush with soy mixture. Fry eggplants until tender, 4 to 6 minutes more, then add remaining soy mixture to skillet and cook, turning eggplants once or twice, until liquid is absorbed, about 2 minutes.

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Recent Review

I tweaked this quite a
bit but it tasted
good. I had lots of
eggplants to use up so
I increased the
vegetable oil, mirin
and soy sauce,
maintaining a little
more mirin than soy
sauce. Instead of
sautéing the eggplant,
I just peeled and
diced the
eggplant so more of
the sauce would be
absorbed. (I
eliminated the step of
salting the eggplant
to draw out the
moisture as I am on a
salt-restricted
diet.) I stir fried
the diced eggplant a
few minutes, added
the mirin and soy
sauce, added about 1/2
pound of cubed tofu
and mixed thoroughly
while continuing to
stir fry on medium
heat. Then I covered
the frying pan and let
it steam until the
eggplant was
translucent. I served
it with brown rice. It
was delicious, as well
as being a complete
meal with the tofu as
the protein.